The dumping in Bezuidenhout valley is once again making news.
According to the ward councillor, Clr Carlos da Rocha, the dumping is getting out of control and some residents almost exchanged blows on Monday, November 1, when one of the residents saw his neighbour dumping rubbish on the street corner.
“As we approach the end of the year and Pikit up starts working with skeleton staff, that makes things much worse. There seem to be a lot of inconsiderate residents who have no personal interest or investment in the area and they tend to find it entertaining to dump on every street corner,” said Clr Da Rocha.
He said one incident happened at the corner of Albertina Sisulu Road and Renown Street in Kensington.
Individuals from one of the houses in Renown Street dumped a full truck load of rubbish on the corner.
There was so much rubbish that the culprits had to dump it in three different locations.
When the EXPRESS visited the area, the dumped rubbish was already being blown around by the wind and was littering the entire street.
“As I arrived at the scene, I noticed a Pikitup truck which was about to start loading. I felt that it was wrong for them to fill up a truck with rubbish dumped by the corner house and requested for them to leave the rubbish so that I could contact the authorities to deal with this individual and make him clean up the mess that he bestowed upon the other residents.
“I felt it would be unfair to the other residents that the rubbish further down the road did not get collected. I knew who dumped the rubbish beyond a reasonable doubt,” said Clr Da Rocha.
Clr Da Rocha said he called the metro police. The officers arrived and informed the owner of the property that should he not clean up the pavement, he would face arrest and a R500 fine.
The resident accused of dumping denied the allegations, saying it was a misunderstanding. He claimed the rubbish was only put out to be collected by a truck.
He said his gardeners were cutting tree leaves and they dumped the leaves on the street corner because they were waiting for the truck to collect the rubbish.
Clr Da Rocha added, “It is unfair on property owners, rate payers and investors in the area that they have to live with the filth and rats. People do not realise that this kind of behaviour chases away potential investors and will turn away possible job creation.”
He is pleading with residents to stand together and create a clean and prosperous suburb.
Residents who have no bins are urged to apply for a bin from Pikitup, or alternately to find out what day the rubbish collected. Residents should only place rubbish outside on the designated collection day.
Those who will be using the holidays to clean up their yards are also urged to dump their garden refuse at the Bez Valley dump at the bottom of 5th Street in Bez Valley, between 6th and 4th avenues.
